Cycling UK Forum

i've used Endura Humvee's for years and love them, baggy MTB style shorts with clip in padded lycra shorts as well, although you don't have to wear the lycra shorts as well if you don't want to, very comfy on the bike and look casual enough for pubs/restaurants etc
https://www.endurasport.com/Hummvee-Short-II-with-liner/p/E8064-Black

I really rate Humvees as well; comfortable and very hard wearing.

Decathlon’s 900 MTB shorts are fantastic as well: I got mine in the sale, but, they are so good I would buy full price.

Daily wearing for 4 years.

https://www.decathlon.co.uk/p/700-mount ... _/R-p-4692

I find all mtb shorts ok in fine weather but not when they get wet, even the waterproof ones, tend to be hard work. I have been using Morvelo Overland shorts for a few weeks, expensive but so far so good. Also had Altura , good and dry fairly quickly but after a year they look well worn.

Re the Lycra shorts (inappropriate) thing - in some ways it depends on what shirt/top you wear.

When I tour I usually wear a gents shirt or an Aussie work shirt. Both of these are longer than normal cycling tops and cover most of my bumps when off the bike. Comfortable shorts and a bit of modesty, job done.

I used to use a pair of Hummvee (before they got the II) with a couple of pairs of the Clickfast padded liners. For me , the Clickfast liners available then were not thick enough (and it's only about degree of padding my bum wants/needs, nothing to do with the product and its suitability for others). I wanted baggy shorts 'cos at my age I really didn't want to wear lycra shorts. But when I wore them over my FS-260 Pros they were too warm/hot, so I ha to wear lycra ...

But coming change of bike (where padding is not wanted atall) means I now need unpadded shorts so thanks to this thread I've turned out my old Hummvees which look ideal. Thanks this thread.

Ian

I agree with Simon. In a heatwave in France I wore a factor 50 shirt as I had had a carcinoma removed from my back and the dermatologist said cycle shirts and tee shirts offered little protection. Pleasantly surprised how cool I kept. I have one long sleeved shirt and one short as they dry overnight so not much bulk.

roberts8 wrote:I agree with Simon. In a heatwave in France I wore a factor 50 shirt as I had had a carcinoma removed from my back and the dermatologist said cycle shirts and tee shirts offered little protection. Pleasantly surprised how cool I kept. I have one long sleeved shirt and one short as they dry overnight so not much bulk.

Not disagreeing with Rob and I think he has the right idea, but wondering why if Cycle shirts offer low protection why cyclists have tan lines. I have never burnt or even tanned through one. Bu it does make you wonder should I be doing more ? I have a couple which claimed to be SPF15 I normally wear, SPF30 as minimum on the exposed bit arms legs face and Neck. but those are the bit that tan. SO i am guessing Sun damage and tanning may be be slightly different

Compare the skin of someone who has spent a week on the beach with that of someone who has spent a week cycling. There's wind, suddenness of exposure and probably all sorts of other things.

Thanks for all the posts guys. Plenty of food for thought.

Cheers

chris_suffolk wrote:How about shorts over lycra? May give you more options.

This is what I do. Lycra under standard shorts. Get a little warm at times. Lycra alone is best really.

leftpoole wrote:

chris_suffolk wrote:How about shorts over lycra? May give you more options.

This is what I do. Lycra under standard shorts. Get a little warm at times. Lycra alone is best really.

I found that arrangement (shorts over padded lycra) too hot as well (in UK summers).

Ian

I have got a pair of Boardman touring shorts , which are lightweight cargo shorts with removable padded liner. They are pretty comfortable with the liner when riding and also as general shorts without them. Good cut which doesn't ride up when cycling, unlike a pair of Endura ones I used to have and loads of useful pockets.

I always have these. They aren’t the first item that might come to mind but as a lifelong hiker and backpacker I have used Rohan for d3 ad3s.

https://www.rohan.co.uk/product/detail/ ... fort_03236

Looking back, I have always worn padded shorts since I took up riding again mid '90s.

I find that I need the padding for anything but the shortest ride, so I wear Lycra shorts (short, long, bib, whatever depending on the season).
I've never really bothered about disguising the fact I'm wearing Lycra shorts because if the sight of my manly (hah!) legs offends them they can consider how much worse it would be if I was wearing budgie smugglers.

I did buy some Corrine Dennis shorts the other year for touring, and they are generally fine but don't have quite enough padding.
I ended up wearing underpants under them which wasn't my ideal comfort zone.

It does seem that a lot of people are sensitive to being lumped in with MAMILs and Lycra Louts but it has never worried me and I would take middle aged as a compliment these days.
I wear Lycra because sweaty sporting activity is exactly what it was designed for.
So far I haven't been tempted to buy the full set of TdF team colours though (which might suggest that I am not MAMIL material anyway).

I agree with other posts that suggest wearing Lycra padded shorts under some other shorts. My most comfortable of the former are endura and decathlon (pro, I think) I think with padded shorts you get what you pay for much of the time. The holy grail for comfort are Assos according to those I know who've used them. It is said that pro riders get Assos pads sewn into their sponsored clothing of other brands. I don't know if that's true or not, but I do know that Assos are one of if not the most expensive! For outer shorts, Decathlon do some really nice stretchy material shorts (Quechua MH500) in black and in navy, maybe other colours. I actually prefer these to any of my cycling specific outer shorts (endura Humvees/single-track/Zyme in 3/4 length, lusso), although I go with the thicker endura 3/4 Zyme shorts in colder conditions. I'm not up with recent changes to endura models though, all of mine are second hand and a few years old. FWIW I find the elasticated waist on my Humvees tight to the point where the pop fastener at the front won't stay closed. My waist is toward the bottom of the range for that size, but the fit could well have changed in more recent iterations.